A rare miniature portrait on vellum painted around 1527
representing a theologian or a scholar attribued to Lucas Horenbout also called
Hornebolte will be sold by the Binoche-Giquello group at the Paris Drouot
salesrooms on November 26, 2014.
Considered as the main promoter of miniature painting
in England during the reign of King Henry VIII, Horenbout reputedly taught
this type of medium to Hans Holbein during the latter's first visit to London in 1526. On his return in 1532, Holbein painted some strikingly realistic miniatures of the king and members of his court which marked a considerable development of such art.
Measuring 5,8 cm in diameter, this miniature is surely
among the first painted by England at the court of the king whose portrait was
executed several times by Horenbout, an artist of Femish origin trained for the
making of books of Hours by his father Gerard who had been much admired by Albrecht
Dürer who had visited his studio in Antwerp in December 1521.
Horenbout settled in England in 1524 with his sister
Susannah and his father and soon produced the king's portrait, firstly for
letters of patent in a style much in tune with the illustrations of books of Hours.
Considered as a vibrant example of what historians call primitive
miniatures, the portrait to be sold in Paris is much reminiscent of that
representing the king's astronomer Nicholas Kratzer also painted on vellum laid
on a playing card now in the collection of the University of Cambridge. The
last miniature of that period, a portrait of King Henry VIII was sold in Paris
in the mid 1990's, meaning that such works are quite rare on the art market.
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